“All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky. And then there are mere trickles, like Jean Rhys. All that matters is feeding the lake. I don't matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake.”
― Jean Rhys

As AI-generated content floods our online landscape, I’m sure I’m not the only writer that has (several times) said: “WE’RE SCREWED”. How the hell does a flesh-and-bones person compete with a comprehensive, clean-writing supercomputer?

But a pattern is emerging. Although eyeballs are shifting towards AI outputs for surface-level information, people still gravitate towards people for deeper insights. The rise of podcasts and platforms like Substack, as well as shifts in Google’s algorithm, shows a resurgence of personal content like the blogs of the early 2000s: less ‘how to…’ and more ‘how I…’

Let’s explore how personal content can thrive alongside the rise of AI, and the techniques you can use to ensure yours does too.

Proof of the power of the personal

Years back, I created content for Preply, a language-learning platform. Our focus was to build the site’s SEO by scaling content production. Even back then, I felt that creating a sea of articles wouldn’t be enough: we had to uncover the best ways for our audience to learn. So I interviewed multi-linguals to understand their best techniques to learn a language and published it on this website.

Hunting the Muse might be about language. But I don’t write about ‘language learning’ (I even start the article with “I am no language expert”). Yet traffic to this personal content on my little website grew. It even began to outrank my old company for a highly-searched informational keyword.

Was it a fluke? I wanted to test again to see, writing about another personal experience: a silent retreat. Months later, this article with real photos started generating hundreds, then thousands, of visitors a month: outranking sites from companies specialised in retreats.

*The organic growth of my silent retreat article, with close to 10,000 clicks.*

All my previously held beliefs about SEO content — topical authority, link building, competitive content — were being turned upside down. Personal content was the way forward.

5 trends behind the rise of personal content

Why is personal writing growing in demand? Here are five key moments that have been shaping the need for personal content online.

1. Google’s Helpful Content Updates and changes to site reputation abuse policy

Since August 2022, Google’s Helpful Content Updates have been rolled out with a consistent ethos: reward content showing first-hand expertise, insightful analysis, and original research. To be clear, Google does not punish AI-generated content as long as it meets quality standards. Google also updated its policy to stop websites from misusing domain authority to rank for terms they have no right ranking for (looking at you, Forbes).

2. The growth of AI content, and AI fatigue

Who knows how much content is written by AI now. Hell, some of this article, will, admittedly, have been touched by AI. But the more businesses churn out low-effort, scaled-for-scaling’s-sake content, the more valuable well-researched and expertly-written content becomes. The more AI-generated content exists, the more we’ll recognize it — and grow weary of it — driving us to seek out rare and insightful content instead.

*Businesses will need to* ***balance content scalability with originality****. Although they will aim for the top-right quadrant, many will fall victim to the top-left.*

3. E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust)

E-E-A-T is a framework used by Google's Search Quality Raters (a team of human reviewers) to evaluate if content is created by someone with experience or expertise on the subject. This mostly affects content written for ‘Your money your life’ topics, such as health, financial stability, or safety. It’s still unclear if E-E-A-T is a ranking factor, but it’s certainly helpful for the content’s credibility. You wouldn’t want life-or-death medical advice written by a random freelancer, would you?

4. Google’s deal with Reddit

In 2024, Reddit secured a deal with Google, and now dominates a significant portion of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Was this due to the growing trend of people adding "…Reddit" to their searches, or because Google recognized its SERPs were filled with content lacking first-hand experience? Either way, it shows people trust others for purchase decisions, reviews, and insights.

5. The rise of writing platforms (in an uncertain time for social media)

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, the happening-then-not-happening TikTok ban in the US, and Meta dropping fact-checking are just a few reasons users are reconsidering which platforms align with their values. Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s user base keeps growing, and Substack is becoming the go-to publishing platform for startup founders. Amid these shifts, one thing is clear: users may flock to video for short-term entertainment, but the written word still isn’t going anywhere.

*SparkToro’s Amanda Natividad laments the ‘death of the marketing watercooler’, as social media platforms shift.*

How should online writers personalize their content?

Now that we’ve seen the trends highlighting a growing demand for more personal content, how can you turn original ideas into original writing? Let’s explore a few avenues.

1. Invest in your education and experience

‘Thought leadership content’ does not come from just ‘thought’. It comes from doing things and showing what you’ve learned. Start by creating content on:

Experiences. Share insights from experiences relevant to audience interests.
Books and articles. Read what others aren’t and make new connections.
Courses. Summarize your deepened knowledge of a subject and pass it on.
Educated opinions. Rethink a piece of conventional wisdom and share alternatives.
Solutions. Start content with "If you struggle with..." to address familiar challenges.

2. Use original data and research

B2B writers know the feeling: we’re drowning in data. In these industries, you need to hunt for the story, the key takeaway, the information that gives your audience an edge. Ahrefs — whose writing staff are SEO content specialists — are increasingly using ‘How I’ in their titles, not ‘How to’. This is proof to their readers they’ve done the digging. They’ve earned the knowledge and shared it too.

*Hand-picked recent article titles from the* *Ahrefs blog.*

3. Train your storytelling hooks

Storytelling is perceived as a yucky, ‘nothing’ word these days. So let’s get practical with it. There’s a reason I start many articles with a personal story (here’s an example):

It brings personal experience into the fold (which nobody or no robot can do).
People crave novelty, so it creates a new connection between the topic and your story.
It creates curiosity: how does this story connect with the core topic?

So how do you find these stories? One powerful way is using homework for life, where you capture a noteworthy moment from every day. In these moments, you can find a small story of everyday change that can connect with your content.

Matthew Dicks describes his ‘Homework for Life’ story-hunting technique.

4. Diversify your sources

All these shifts in the content world are showing how little control marketers have.

But old wisdom rings true: either write for yourself first (more often than not, the personal is universal) or imagine you’re having a direct conversation with an individual who represents your audience.

And secondly, collect first-party data that allows you to connect directly with your audience over email. This audience is yours, and doesn’t belong to an algorithm or big tech. Newsletters are a powerful source of personal content as long as you think of it more as a letter and less as news.

Personal writing is not screwed. It’s more necessary than ever.

Even as AI becomes more prominent in the writing world, there will always be a demand for pure expression. For intentional idea sharing. For the arts. But that’s only if we use AI to challenge our thinking, and not do it for us.

It’s our duty to share ideas and add to the lake: not for the algorithms, but for each other.

Feeding the lake: How personal content still wins in the age of AI